Sun TV Network Limited is engaged in producing and broadcasting satellite television and radio software programming in the regional languages. The Company currently operates television channels in 4 South Indian languages and also in Bangla and Marathi, predominantly to viewers in India, and also to viewers in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, United States, Australia, South Africa and Canada.
The Company's flagship channel is Sun TV. The other major satellite channels of the Company are Surya TV, Gemini TV, Udaya TV Sun Bangla and Sun Marathi. Presently, it is into the business of FM Radio broadcasting at Chennai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli. It produces its own content / acquires the related rights. The Company has the license to operate an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise 'Sun Risers Hyderabad'. The Company also operates an OTTplatform 'SUNNXT'. It currently has 55 FM radio stations operational in all important cities and towns in India.
Sun TV Network Limited was incorporated as Sumangali Publications Private Limited in 18th December of the year 1985. The SunTV Network originally began as a Tamil satellite channel and further expanded with other channels in other languages including Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. The channels offered from the company are SunTV, KTV, Sun Music, Sun News, Chutti TV, SuryaTV, GeminiTV, Teja News, Gemini News, Gemini Music, Gemini Cable Vision, UdayaTV, Udaya Movies, Udaya News, etc. The Company also has its own earth station, which beams programs directly to the satellite.
In Tamil New Years Day at 14th April of the year 1993, Sun TV entered Tamil homes for the first time initially for four-and-a-half hour a day on a time-sharing arrangement with ATN. Over a period of time with Sun TV became a 24-hour channel in January of the year 1995. The word private' in the name of the company was deleted with effect from 1st July of the year 1996. As of September 1998, Domestic up linking commenced from Chennai through VSNL and the company had launched our first Malayalam channel Surya TV in October of the same year 1998. During March of the year 2000, Domestic up linking through own teleport commenced from Chennai and also fully digital transmission of all TV channels commenced. The name of the company was changed to Sun TV Limited. The fresh certificate of incorporation consequent to the change of name was granted to the company in 27th March of the year 2000. SunTV Network had launched Sun News, news and current affairs based channel in May of the same year 2000. The word 'private' was reinserted in the name of the company in 9th October of the year 2001. The Company bagged Indian Television Academy award for the best Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu TV Channel for the year 2001. The Company had launched KTV, a 24-hour film based Tamil channel with its primary focus on films and film-based programme in October of the year 2002. Sun Music, the first 24-hour Tamil Music Channel was launched under the group in September of the year 2004.
As at January of the year 2005, SunTV Network had launched a film and music based 24-hour Malayalam language channel under the name of Kiran TV. During the year 2003, the first radio Frequency Modulation (FM) channel in Tamil of the company came to existence from three major cities of Tamil Nadu, i.e., Chennai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli and also it holds licenses for 45 FM radio stations across India. During the year 2005, Kal Radio Limited and South Asia FM Limited were incorporated for the purpose of bidding for FM licenses under the Phase II Policy of MIB. The status of the company was subsequently changed to a public limited company by a special resolution of the members passed at an extraordinary general meeting held in 15th December of the year 2005. The Fresh Certificate of Incorporation consequent on change of name was granted to the company in December 27th 2005. In the year 2006, Sun TV Ltd had launched 3 more FM Radio Stations under the brand S FM through its subsidiaries Kal Radio Ltd and South Asia FM Ltd. The Company's some channels became a pay mode with effect from 2nd December of the 2006. The Company had hiked its advertisement rates by 5% to 27% with effect from January of the year 2007.
During the identical year of 2007, Sun TV signed an exclusive Cable & Satellite channels agreement with Nimbus Communications Ltd. Sun TV Network Ltd through its subsidiary - South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) had entered into a strategic alliance with Red FM to further its FM Radio broadcasting business in the North, West and East Indian markets. The Company got its current name SunTV Network Limited' after the merger of Gemini and Udaya in 24th April of the year 2007. During the year 2008, from January to April, SunTV Network had launched its FM Radio Station under the brand 'S FM' at different locations, such as Kanpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Mangalore, Kannur (Kerala), Mysore and Jamshedpur.
On 8 September 2008, Sun TV Network Ltd announced its entry into Film Production through its new division 'Sun Pictures'. This is a natural extension for the company with its already dominant presence across television and radio. Sun Pictures - a division of Sun TV Network Ltd will produce films in the four southern languages of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam and has signed contract with leading artistes, directors and music directors.
On 3 August 2009, Sun TV Network informed the stock exchanges that M/s. South Asia Multimedia Technologies Ltd, (SAMT), a shareholder of South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL), subsidiary of Sun TV Network Ltd, has increased its stake in the equity of SAFL from 6.98% to 20% and the present shareholding of Sun TV Network Ltd in SAFL is 59.15%.
On 22 December 2009, Sun TV Network announced that it will restructure its distribution business and team with the creation of two verticals, one focused on managing the South Indian operations and the International business and the second focused on expanding the SUN TV bouquet into the North, West and Eastern Markets of India. The key focus of this new organization is to distribute the Sun Television channels in India and Internationally via all fixed networks including cable, DTH, IPTV, HTTS and MMDS.
On 20 January 2010, Sun TV Network announced that it has floated a wholly owned subsidiary, 'Sun TV Network Europe Ltd' in United Kingdom to broadcast and distribute its channels in U.K. and Europe.
On 25 February 2010, Sun TV Network announced that its leading Malayalam satellite TV channels 'Surya TV' and 'Kiran TV' will become pay channels with effect from 1 April 2010. Surya TV and Kiran TV are amongst the most watched Malayalam channels in Kerala and world over.
On 5 March 2010, Sun TV Network announced it would be launching its FM Radio Station in Gangtok (Sikkim) under the brand 'RED FM' from 6 March 2010 through the subsidiary South Asia FM Ltd. This station can be heard at 93.5 MHz frequency in Gangtok (Sikkim). The programs will cater to the audience of all age groups.
On 29 November 2010, Sun TV Network announced that it has appointed Global Media Management LLC and World Media Connect LLC to manage and grow its distribution and advertising business, respectively in North America. The key focus behind this strategic move would be to diverge and expand into the North American markets by increasing subscription base and consecutively growing advertising revenues. This move also gives a competitive edge in distribution of services across varied platforms and promoting new television content to satisfy a diverse customer profile.
On 7 February 2011, Sun TV Network clarified to the stock exchanges that the company and its Chairman Kalanithi Maran categorically deny that they have or had any shareholding or association/transaction with Kalaignar TV. On 14 October 2011, Sun TV Network announced that it would be launching the first 24 hours Malayalam kid's TV channel 'KOCHU TV' from 16 October 2011 onwards. Kochu TV will be the first and only of its kind 24 hours kids channel in Malayalam targeting the children in the age group of 4 to 14 years with regional and international flavor, versatile and rich mix of programming which includes best cartoons like Jackie Chan adventures, He-Man and pre school contents, etc. The programmes are designed to engage and stimulate the kids' imagination during the early formative age.
On 4 January 2012, Sun TV Network launched four Ad free Action movie Channels - Sun Action in Tamil, Gemini Action in Telugu, Suriyan TV in Kannada and Surya Action in Malayalam. These will be the first of its kind 24 hours Ad free Action Movie Channels in India and are premier pay channels.
On 9 January 2012, Sun TV Network launched three more pay Channels - Sun Life and Sun TV RI (Rest of India) in Tamil and Gemini Life in Telugu. Sun Life and Gemini Life will focus on lifestyle, religion, health, education etc. Sun TV RI (Rest of India) will transmit the same Sun TV content but specialized for the Rest of India i.e. all states other than Tamil Nadu and enabling the advertiser to focus on specific geographical areas.
On 4 April 2012, Sun TV Network announced the launch of four additional channels on DISH platform in the United States of America.
On 31 July 2012, Sun TV Network informed the stock exchanges that the company has concluded an agreement with Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd., an undertaking owned by the Government of Tamil Nadu engaged in the business of providing signals to cable operators in the state of Tamil Nadu. This agreement will enable the total availability of the company's channels on all cable TV distribution systems run by Arasu Cable across the state of Tamil Nadu with immediate effect. Sun TV already enjoys a dominant market share in terms of viewership ratings and the new arrangement will facilitate in further enhancing the competitive positioning of the company's extremely popular programming. The company will also now start earning additional subscription revenues from Tamil Nadu.
On 25 October 2012, Sun TV Network announced that it has successfully bid for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisee offered by The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and has been awarded the Hyderabad Franchise as long as the League continues for an amount of Rs 85.05 crore per year payable for five years, 2013-17 (inclusive). Thereafter, from and including 2018 onwards an amount equal to 20% of the franchisee income received in such year has to be paid in four quarterly installments to BCCI.
On 19 March 2014, Sun TV Network announced the execution of formal contracts with YouTube and iTunes to facilitate the sale of Sun TV proprietary content on a pay for view' basis to customers living across the world. Additionally, the company also signed an agreement with Mumbai based Purple IFE Ltd to deploy its content library for in flight entertainment.
On 26 August 2015, Sun TV Network announced a partnership with HOOQ platform for delivery of movies of their premium video-on-demand service.
On 2 February 2016, YuppTV, the world's largest Over-The-Top (OTT) provider for Indian content, announced a tie-up with Sun Network to offer numerous regional entertainment options to its users. Under the agreement, YuppTV will make Sun Network channels viz. Surya and Kiran (Malayalam), Sun TV, KTV, Sun Music, Adithya TV (Tamil), Gemini TV, Gemini Movies and Gemini Comedy (Telugu) and Udaya TV (Kannada) available for its MENA (The Middle East and North Africa) viewers.
On 12 February 2016, Sun TV Network announced that the committee appointed by the Board of Directors examined the issue of buyback of shares and recommended that the Board of Directors continue the present practice of payment of dividends and not to pursue the buyback of shares for the time being. The Board accepted the recommendation.
On 27 April 2017, Sun TV Network announced that its new Surya comedy TV channel would go on air from 29 April 2017. In June 2017, Sun TV Network launched a new digital content platform 'Sun NXT' enabling customers to watch their popular TV programmes in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada on their favorite devices.
The Company had launched during the financial year 2017-18, 24 hours Malayalam comedy channel namely, Surya Comedy and Sun NXT the digital content platform.
In year 2018-19, Company commenced the transmission of new Bengali general entertainment channel SUN Bangla on February 3, 2019. M/s. Kal Radio Limited, subsidiary of the Company, had launched 6 more FM Radio Stations in Second Batch of Private FM Radio Phase III Channels catering to southern cities of India and 5 More FM Radio Stations was launched in Second Batch of Private FM Radio Phase III Channels by Company's subsidiary, M/s. South Asia FM Limited catering to Northern, Eastern & Western parts of India.
During year 2019-20, one more FM Radio Station in Agartala was launched by M/s. South Asia FM Limited, subsidiary of the Company on June 8, 2019.